Blue Boat Home

I slept well in the warm, quiet night of the spring equinox and woke to another beautiful day.  No one ever showed up to register me as they were supposed to, so I got the campsite for free!  I was the only one there, so they may not have bothered making the rounds.

Today was gorgeous!  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

I stopped for groceries in the morning and met a man in the parking lot who was riding his grandson's bicycle, though he said he had many bikes of his own.  He asked a bunch of questions and then offered me some military Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) that he gets from Fort Bragg and gives to homeless people and other folks who could use them.  I accepted two.  They're much bulkier than my usual food, since about half of their volume is packaging.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on March 19, 2005]

I had planned to ride into North Carolina Wednesday, but I didn't quite make it... it was farther than I thought (remember I had lost my maps), and there was a constant, cold rain that really took the wind out of my sails. I had to stop at several shopping centers during the day just to warm up and dry off so I could keep functioning.

Today was so much better than the last couple of days!  It was sunny and warmer and I got to ride on quiet back roads.  I got a late start and had to do some bike repairs, but the sun seemed to hang in the sky all afternoon, and I got to Jones Lake State Park, north of Elizabethtown, about 2 hours before sunset.

38.5 mi

Today was cold and drizzly and generally unpleasant.  The hotel owner wouldn't let me bring my bike inside, so I didn't get to do some routine maintenance I would normally have done after a day of rain.

I had planned to ride into North Carolina today, but I didn't quite make it... it was farther than I thought, and there was a constant, cold rain that really took the wind out of my sails.  I had to stop at several shopping centers during the day just to warm up and dry off so I could keep functioning.

This morning I brought my breakfast to the beach and watched the sun rise over the water.  Then I strolled over to Atalaya, the summer home of Archer Milton and Anna Hyatt Huntington.  I last crossed Archer Huntington's philanthropic footprints at Aztec Ruins National

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on March 15, 2005]

When last I wrote you on Friday evening, I was about to go in search of a bar with happy-hour specials on food. I found an Irish-American pub that fit the bill. Then I walked to the riverfront and watched the sun set. A tremendous, gusty, cold wind blew in as the sun went down, so I had to keep walking to stay warm!

Once the traffic died down, my camp in the forest was amazingly quiet, and I slept very well.  Today was much cooler than yesterday, but not uncomfortable.

I followed US-17A into Georgetown, ate a hearty buffet lunch, and continued north on US-17 to Huntington Beach State Park.  This is my first SC park, and I'm impressed -- they gave me a good deal on a great campsite.  Tomorrow morning I'll stroll down the beach to Atalaya, a 1930s mansion.

62.6 mi

Today was another very short day's ride, because I wanted to be sure to take advantage of free camping in Francis Marion National Forest, and my route doesn't go through very much of it.

Francis Marion is mostly pines with a few deciduous trees in the dense underbrush -- none of the palmetto, live oak, and magnolia that characterized Florida and Georgia's forests.